So with Gretel and Big Brother parting ways at the end of 2007, Ten & ESS were quick to announce the show's two new hosts, Kyle Sandilands & Jackie O.
I was happy with this announcement, as I have been a fan of these two since their days on Austereo's Hot 30 Countdown, and followed them through to their drive time Kyle & Jackie O Show. I don't hear a lot of their radio stuff anymore because they do Sydney breakfast and I'm in Melbourne, but we get the 1 hour highlights show each day. One thing I can say for certain is they have built up a strong rapport over the years hosting the radio shows together, so their hosting of BB should come naturally and feel really comfortable right from the beginning. The last thing we'd want is audiences alienated on Day 1 with hosts who don't know each others' rhythms.
And who better to host Big Brother than Kyle, you might ask. Gretel has said from the beginning in interviews that she would never want to be a housemate. But Kyle has been there twice, albeit once a little too briefly. Kyle of course made it to the second-last night of Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 before (wrongly!) being voted out to leave Dylan Lewis and Jay Laga'aia in the finale. And there was his infamous special-guest/cross-promotion appearance in BB07 where he stayed for 1 out of the proposed 3 nights, insisted on taking the Rewards Room away from the FNL winner, refused to live by the housemates' rules, had a childish fight with Big Brother, forced his way out of the house, and left without an explanation to the housemates-- reportedly all because he was promised luxury foods and the ability to leave the house whenever he wanted to. Boo-friggedy-hoo! But that is Kyle for you.
Kyle and Jackie have already promised (with or without producers' knowledge) improvements to be made to this year's series, including the return of Adults Only content, in some form or other, and more diverse housemates, including some from the older age groups-- two things I'm sure will widen the audience of the series, as long as they promote these things before the start.
It leaves us with the question of how the evictions will be formatted to accomodate two hosts. Will they host different segments, or will they run the show side by side? We could see a whole different type of show if they split the hosting role and cut between them for a faster pacing. And the interviews could be a lot more daunting for evictees with two hosts ganging up on them.
I can see this possibly opening the door to a truly live launch show again, since one host can be getting ready with one housemate while the other is interviewing another. The show has gotten a lot of criticism from fans for the last 4 years pre-recording the launch show a day before it goes to air. They could even have a host on stage and a host at the house site doing two different styles of interviews.
You can't ignore the contrast in personalities w're going to see from them. You've got good-guy Jackie, who will probably be the loving mother to the housemates, and bad-guy Kyle who will criticise everything and be as up-front with them as he likes. This will also add huge diversity to the points of view we will get from the shows, instead of Gretel's one-sidedness.
I'm sure Kyle and Jackie will be much more friendly to the live audience. Having been to two live evictions I know that the audience doesn't see Gretel until the TV viewers see her, and during commercial breaks she is all wrapped up in behind the scenes stuff. Hopefully with Kyle and Jackie the format of the shows will be less rigid meaning less planning and memorising scripts to be done, and more audience interaction.
I can see great things coming out of the casting of these two in the lead role for BB this year. It is the make or break year, so hopefully the extra publicity and the new format and hosts will keep the show alive and stronger than it has been for some time.
